


so please just fall in love with me (this christmas or whenever it's convenient)

by itslidiablack



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, That's it, bear with me please, i will go down with this spaceship, isn't that the point, luke is a teacher and din is a hot dad, no angst they're just idiots, no beta we die like stormtroopers, self indulgent but whatever, they're very dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29591355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itslidiablack/pseuds/itslidiablack
Summary: "Yes, kid," agrees Han, looking like he’s doing his best to not to laugh at him. Leia - the traitor – isn’t even trying to suppress her smirk but after all she is petting his hair like a good sister while he complains about his life, so in the end he can’t be really mad at her."I understand you were tired, hot dad was indeed hot and you are very gay," lists his best friend while Luke nods miserably. "But what exactly have you done?" he asks very patiently.Luke groans, Leia snorts and Han sighs.......or the "luke is a teacher who falls in love with his student's very attractive dad" that we all thought about at least once
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 58
Kudos: 391





	so please just fall in love with me (this christmas or whenever it's convenient)

**Author's Note:**

> hello there darlings ✨  
> probably you're wondering: "why, lidia, why you're posting a christmas-y story in february?" you're right BUT 1) i started writing this like the day AFTER the finale was aired, i had dinluke for half a day and i had already sold my soul, yes 2) i'm graduating this monday and i was busy writing my dissertation and i didn't expect it woukd become a little monster SO HERE WE ARE AT LAST!!!  
> english is not my first language and i apologise in advance for any mistakes 🥺 this is seriously so self-indulgent but i hope you like it ❤
> 
> may the gays be with you 🏳️🌈
> 
> I do not own the characters or star wars because if I did i would make it gayer

If someone asks, Luke will put the blame on his class. Don't get him wrong: he loves every single one of his students, even the most troublesome never get as much as an exasperated sigh from his part. Luke is considered the most beloved teacher of the entire school – at least according to third-graders that is.

He’s patient, caring and genuinely invested in what he’s teaching. Nonetheless, for all the passion one could muster, third grade is exhausting: take a bunch of energetic eight-years-olds on a Friday, a month before Christmas, with the end of term approaching; add glue, paint, paper and glitters that he’s probably going to find in his hair for the next three days; sum all together and then you will understand just how tired Luke was at the end of the day. His head is still buzzing with the echo of second graders singing - screaming - for the Christmas musical and, anyway, who thought it was a good idea to put third and second grades in the same room for more than five minutes? So, yes, excuse Luke for making a total fool of himself in front of the hot dad with the black sunglasses!

"Yes, kid," agrees Han, looking like he’s doing his best to not to laugh at him.

Leia - the traitor – isn’t even trying to suppress her smirk but after all she is petting his hair like a good sister while he complains about his life, so in the end he can’t be really mad at her.

I understand you were tired, hot dad was indeed hot and you are very gay," lists his best friend while Luke nods miserably. "But what exactly have you done?" he asks very patiently.

Luke groans, Leia snorts and Han sighs.

Record scratch, back at the end of school day.

\- - -

School day is finally over. Parents have come and gone with their children and Luke is finally left alone to clean up his class. Well, almost alone.

"Mr. Luke! Mr. Luke! Can I help you?" asks a bright voice.   
"Grogu!" says Luke surprised. "Aren't you going to take the school bus today?"

The little kid shakes his head, making his curls bounce. "Nope" he answers happily, popping the 'p', "My dad isn't working today and is picking me up!" he explains, swinging back and forth on his heels.

Luke smiles. He’s had it just for some months now but Grogu is definitely one of the brightest kids in the class, although he seems to never stay still. "Well, in that case you can help me while you wait for him." he says, ruffling his hair affectionately.

While the kid’s busy gathering up pencils and markers around the room, Luke wonders why he hasn't ever seen his father before. Truth to be told, it’s not that uncommon: parents are often busy at work at that time of the day and not everyone bothers to show up at class meetings. But, after all, Grogu is clearly very much looked after: he never misses a day of school, always hands homework on time and participates at every school trip.

Above all, Grogu adores his dad to the point that his adventures always start with a when me and my dad went or me and my dad did and saw and conclude generally with said dad sighing a lot. That speaks volume and Luke reasons that for all the care and effort put into raising his son, Grogu’s father can be excused for not picking him up after school.

Still, he would like to meet the man for once.

Little did he know that his wish was going to be heard immediately.

Three knocks on the door, a deep baritone voice asking, "Can I come in?" and Grogu's loud "DADDY!" should've had prepared him better, but - well.

Like in the most clichés rom-coms that he and his mother adore and Leia scoffs upon because of impossible high-standards and too much cheesiness and yada yada yada, Luke turns around just in time to witness the most gorgeous man walking in the room: taller than he is, broad shoulders, dark jeans that envelope what look like very powerful thighs, a grey t-shirt that does wonders for said broad shoulders and holy shit isn't the man cold with his arms bare at the end of November? And, oh, those arms, thinks Luke and even the voice in his mind feels on the verge of crying.

Only when Grogu chirps "Hey Mr. Luke, this is my dad!", Luke realizes that not only is he staring but hasn't even greeted properly his student's parent.

"Uhm" utters Luke intelligently.

To his credit, the man doesn't seem particularly preoccupied by the apparent state of idiocy of his only child's teacher and, instead, offers his hand to shake. "I'm Din Djarin, Grogu's father."

"Nice to meet you," says Luke, trying his best to not to sound too dumbfounded. "I'm the teacher. Grogu’s teacher, I mean”. Very smooth Luke, he curses himself, who else could you have been?

"Yes daddy, Luke is super cool and tells us a lot of stuff, did you know that once we were all monkeys and then we evolved, but not like the Pokemons! It was because we had to adapt and then-"

Din chuckles and Luke does his very best not to swoon. "Slow down, mijo, you'll tell me everything about it at home. Now, go pick up your jacket so we can go and your teacher can finally have a break."

Grogu sprinted away, his father apologizes for being late.

"No problem at all, Grogu was helping me tidy up the room. We’re starting on Christmas decorations."   
"That much I gathered." replies the man with a half-smile. At Luke's confused expression, he adds "You have glitter on your face."   
Luke blushes. Great. "Uhm, well, I should have expected that things could get messy."

Din only raises his eyebrows and Luke is saved to further put the proverbial foot in his mouth by Grogu literally launching himself in his father's arms, who readily scoops him up and adjusts the sort of green elf hat on his head.

Luke catches a glimpse of brown eyes under the dark glasses, then the man says: "Well, it's been a pleasure, Luke", while Grogu cheerfully adds "See you Monday!"

Luke manages a "Have a nice weekend" and waits until the pair has disappeared down the stairs before collapsing on a chair.

"I'm so gay." he whines.

[Leia is now fully laughing and Han huffs an amused "oh, kid!". Traitors, both of them. Still, Luke snuggles further into his sister's embrace.]

Despite all Luke's best hopes, hot dad – Mr. Djarin, damn Leia and Han that kept calling him like that for the whole weekend - does not show up the next Monday.

Or the entire week actually. Grogu keeps taking the schoolbus on the way home, though a couple of times he's dropped off by a woman with impressive biceps and tats. He vaguely remembers to have already seen her during the year at parents' meetings. Of course, hot dad would be dating a warrior like woman, Luke thinks disappointed.

He looks at the pair in the parking lot, the woman fixing with care the kid's backpack. At some point, Grogu is hanging from her arm like he weighs nothing, swinging wildly his legs and shrieking happily, before running into class. Luke sighs. His student's happiness is what matters, not a one-time attraction. It was a long shot anyway.

The man certainly likes to make an entrance, Luke muses. Of course when he started to think that hot dad - Din Djarin damnit! - would never show up in his life again, he decides to attend parents' meetings for the first time in his life, when Luke needs to focus the most.

Din shows up just some minutes late, this time with a leather jacket on - Luke mourns the loss of bare arms just a little - and the omnipresent black sunglasses. He nods in his direction - Luke smiles like an idiot in lieu of an answer - and takes a seat in the back of the class.

Luke thanks whatever entity decided to take mercy on him and starts talking about the upcoming Christmas play.

Of course, it’s not the first time he’s in charge of it and it’s never a big event since their school is a very little one. Anyway, the staff works really hard to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible and that, most importantly, the kids have fun. Each class has its own number but this year Luke and Shara Bey, who teaches second grade, decided to join forces and do the usual Nativity play together. As Shara pointed out when she suggested it, together they have more chances to not lose their minds. All of the decorations will be made by the kids themselves and, as for the scenography, it will be up to the teachers and the school staff. Nothing fancy for the costumes, they’ve requested stuff that can be easily acquired by the parents and they’ll provide props where needed.

Luke explains all of the above and answers questions and remarks in the most confident way he knows. Din doesn’t ask anything but taps down on the phone when he enlists dates and requirements.

"Finally, I know that many of you are busy during this period of the year, but we would love if someone volunteered to help us watch over the kids for rehearsal and maybe on the big day", he continues. "Me and Miss Bey will always be present, but you can imagine that with all the kids' enthusiasm we'd appreciate the extra help", he concludes lightly, followed by chuckles and nods from their audience.

In the end, more parents than they had expected offer to help and they quickly decide to make a list to better split each task. There are a bunch of parents from Shara’s class that volunteer for supervision on the day of the play and some of Luke’s offer for helping out with the setting and the costumes.

"So," asks Luke, revising what he’s written down, "can someone drive the kids? The school apparently booked a theatre that's a bit far to just walk to", he explains with a grimace, because of course the school committee did. "Maybe we can organize a couple of cars for each class, together with mine and Miss Bey’s.."

Some moms of the second immediately comply and Luke starts doing mental count for the third graders when Din cuts in.

"I can do it," he says, "I can easily drive Grogu's class in my van”, meaning that Luke is going to see him at least twice a week for sure.

Well that's..

"Perfect," Shara claps her hands, relieving him from answering. “That settled, we’ll start next week”.

"Uhm, Luke?" Luke looks up from where he's writing to find Din standing in front of the desk.

"Mr. Djarin," he says, managing a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if I could have the kids' schedule with the rehearsals." he asks, scratching the back of his head.

"Of course," replies Luke. "We don't officially have one, since we didn't know if anyone would actually volunteer," he offers sheepishly "but the timetables are flexible, starting maybe an hour after the end of lessons, so there’s time to go there and also give the kids a break."

While he’s not looking, Din corners his desk and lowers his head beside Luke’s to look at the paper. Luke swallows and prays that he is not blushing like a teenager. Din mutters something to himself then nods.

"That shouldn't be a problem," he says in the end, frowning.

"Are you sure?" Luke inquiries on impulse. Din raises an eyebrow, but Luke just shrugs. "I noticed that you're often busy at that time since Grogu takes the bus or has someone else picking him up."

Din nods, like that makes sense. “Don’t worry, it was about time I fixed my schedule and came here myself”, he mutters gruffly.

Standing close, Din still looks very hot but there's an edge of awkwardness to his features, like he's not that used at talking with strangers. For some reasons, it makes Luke smile.

“Well, I’m sure Grogu will be glad”, he quips and Din huffs a laugh. “He sure will be. Can’t wait to be back at home to tell in every detail what he did in school”, he says dryly.

Luke chuckles. “That seems like Grogu”, he concedes. “He’s a very special kid, you must be proud.”

That makes a corner of Din’s lips quirk up. “I am”, he utters simply, affection dripping from his voice.

The bell rings and both Luke and Din startle. “I must be on my way”, Din tells him.

Luke shakes his head. “It’s okay. I’ll see you next week for the rehearsals, Mr. Djarin”, he says, standing up.

Din tilts his head. “I realized that I didn’t ask your surname”, he points out.

Luke waves him off. “It’s Skywalker and it’s no problem at all”, Luke counters, then adds casually. “Besides, you can call me Luke.”

Din nods. “Luke”, he utters, like he’s tasting his name between his lips and Luke feels his head spin just a little.

“You can call me Din”, he tells Luke and without giving him the time to reply, he adds “See you next week”, leaving Luke staring once again.

Huh.

That’s going to be a problem.

[“Let me guess.” deadpans Leia that evening at dinner.   
She’s holding little Anakin in one arm and a casserole of Han’s super mean lasagne in the other and she has no right to tease him. “Hot dad?”

Luke groans. “Hot dad.”

Han emerges from the kitchen with Jacen and Jayna attached on his hip and the kiss-the-cook apron still on.

“Did you call me?” he smirks.

Leia rolls her eyes and gives him a look. “You have sauce on your face”, she says bluntly but doesn’t succeed in keeping the fondness out of her voice. ù

Luke snorts. When it comes to her husband, Leia is almost as whipped as he is.]

When Luke says that his life is devoted to children, he means it. Leia is busy at work – the law never sleeps, she used to say when they still shared a tiny flat in the city and took case after case after case – and, as much Han pretends to hate his job, Saturdays are still devoted to drill rookie pilots on the field. Since all he does during the week is crashing at their home while babysitter duties are passed on to the happy grandparents, Luke gladly offers to take the children out on the weekends.

It’s a sunny day, chilly without being too cold, probably one of the last before winter kicks in in full force.

“Don’t wander off, keep in sight!” he shouts after the twins.

It’s more of a wishful thought anyways, since Jacen and Jayna are like a miniature tornado split in two and have already made a run for the playground.

Luke shakes his head and follows his nephews at a more relaxed pace, pushing the stroller where the baby is busy playing with his plushies. Luke picks him up only when he finds a free bench where he can easily keep an eye on the other two. Anakin babbles insistently while extending his little hands to grab at a wandering butterfly.

“You aren’t going to become a terror like your siblings, are you?” croons Luke, bouncing him on his knee. The butterfly lazily flies away. “Grandma and uncle Luke need another sane member in the family, remember that”, he says very seriously.

The baby gurgles in assent and settles comfortably in his arms.

He’s giving the twins some snacks to recharge and go back making havoc, when he spots a familiar figure in black sunglasses.

Din is walking towards him with Grogu in tow, that as soon as he recognizes his teacher bolts forward to greet him.

“Daddy is teaching me how to ride a bike and the last time I made the end of the lane without falling”, he announces proudly. “Manners, mijo.” Sighs Din behind him. “Why don’t you say hi first?” he says and Grogu dutifully repeats.

“That’s better,” utters Din softly.

Luke can’t help but smile. “I’m sure you’re going to be a champ.” He praises gently and Grogu lights up.

Jacen eyes the newcomers curiously, perched comfortably in Luke’s lap, little cartoon juice still in his hands.

Jayna, bold like her mom, stares directly at Grogu. “Why your hat has ears?” she inquires with hands on her hips. “It doesn’t look like an animal, I want to know what it is” and, after a pointed look by her uncle, gracefully adds “Please.”

“Because it’s an elf,” explains cheerfully the kid. “Daddy made it for me. Do you know elf help Santa Claus making presents? And that they live in a gigantic castle made of ice?”

“Aren’t they cold?” asks shyly Jacen.

Grogu shakes his head. “Nope, because they use magic to keep everything warm. Daddy told me.” He concludes like that explains everything.” Now wanna go play?”

The twins beam at that and, before Luke can blink, they’re off running.

“Well, that was quick”, he comments disbelievingly.

“Grogu could make friends with anyone willing to stay still for one second,” he shakes his head, but Luke notices he’s smiling. “Sorry to intrude, by the way.”

“It’s more than fine, the twins need to play with other kids rather than just each other”, Luke dismisses easily. “So, bike lessons?” he adds cheerfully, making space on the bench for Din to sit.

“Tumbled a couple of times, but we’re getting there”, he snorts, “What about you? I thought a teacher would be tired of being surrounded by children all the time.”

Luke chuckles. “Well, they’re my nephews so I guess that doesn’t really count”, he jokes lightly. “They’ll tire themselves soon enough, so when I’ll drop them off their parents’ they’ll be asleep.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Agrees Din, then they settle into a comfortable silence, only interrupted by the occasional babbling of the baby.

At some point, Din’s phone goes off and the name “Cara” pops up on the screen. Din curses under his breath in Spanish – Luke is so glad that he’s busy answering the call because he’s sure his face must have displayed his internal blackout – and says something along the lines “Of course he didn’t forget” and “I know” and “I’ll bring food”.

Luke wonders if she’s the warriorlike auntie that he saw at school. Something that feels like disappointment churns in his stomach no matter how hard he reminds himself that it’s stupid to feel disappointed for a man he’s only met a couple of times.

Din ends the call sighing.

Luke arches an eyebrow. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s fine.” He says, running a hand through his hair. “I was supposed to meet with Cara for lunch, but I totally forgot.”

It’s none of his business, Luke repeats to himself stubbornly. But.. “Is she your girlfriend?” he asks before he can think better.

“I don’t wish to pry, I’ve just noticed the name and I remember Grogu talking about an Auntie Cara and..” he stumbles on his words like the idiot he is but, incredibly, Din just laughs. The sound is so rich and unexpected that Luke forgets to be embarrassed about all his babbling.

“Me? And Cara?” he repeats, a hint of laughter still in his voice. “We’d probably drive each other insane by the end of a day.” He shakes his head but, despite Luke can’t see his expression because of the glasses, the corners of his mouth are crinkled in amusement like he’s remembering an old joke.

Luke flushes a little. “Sorry, I didn’t want to assume.” he mumbles, scratching the back of his head. “I’m his teacher just for this year and I understood the mother was not involved, so you know..” he trails off.

Din considers him for a moment. “You probably don’t know because it’s not on the papers,” he starts quietly, “but Grogu is adopted. Someone just left him in front of my doorsteps when he was barely a couple months older. No note, no explanation. They just left him.” He mutters bitterly, clenching his hand in a fist.

On impulse, Luke covers it gently with his own. He swallows and murmurs, “It mustn’t have been easy.”

Luke’s touch makes Din relax slightly. “It wasn’t”, he offers honestly. “I have always been on my own and suddenly here I have an infant to raise. I tried to find someone else, someone better than me to raise him properly but in the end I couldn’t..” he stutters, his voice dropping.

“You couldn’t separate yourself from him”, finishes Luke for him.

Din breathes out like the mere thought pains him and nods. “Still, I had tons of help from my friends, like Cara and her wife”, he resumes in a steadier tone. “But in the end, it’s always been me and the kid.”

Luke smiles gently. “And you did a wonderful job with him. I’ve told you already and I mean it.”

For a moment, Din’s hand curls around Luke’s and lingers. “Thank you” he murmurs and Luke feels warm inside.

“So, no girlfriends around, got it,” he says after a while, in a lighter tone.

Din snorts. “No boyfriends either, for that matter. Haven’t met anyone willing to put up with a child and in all honesty I’ve never really thought about it until..” he stops in his track and stares at him with such intensity but, before Luke can really process the information, the twins and Grogu come back running, cheeks red from running and chattering excitedly about what they’ve been up to.

Din lets go of Luke’s hand to sweep his son into his lap, listening attentively to the tale of an adventure involving him, his new friends, the little pond and, for some reasons, a frog.

Luke is glad that teaching taught him how to function on autopilot when kids are involved, because otherwise he would have put his head into the nearest tree. While fixing the twins’ clothes and assuring that they’re not entirely covered in dirt, he can still feel the fathom of Din’s hand in his.

Until what, Luke’s mind reproduces on loop. Probably he was just getting carried by the moment, he thinks a little more soberly. No reason to get all worked up.

“All ready to go,” he announces after Jacen’s jacket is buttoned up correctly and Jayna has no more leaves in her hair. “We should really head home, guys.”

The twins start to protest, but Din stands up, holding Grogu’s hand. “I think we’re going to go as well.”

Grogu looks devastated to be separated already by the new friends, but proposes tentatively, “Can we go play again, next week? Please?” he pleads, his eyes so shiny and hopeful that Luke can feel whatever resolve Din had crumbling before them.

He can’t exactly blame him anyway.

“Maybe,” he concedes with a sigh. “You should ask Mr. Luke, anyway.”

Grogu looks at him expectantly and Luke grins down at the kid. “I can’t see why not.”

The kids cheer happily and even little Anakin, excited by the noise, joins with a loud shriek of his own, making all of them laugh.

“I hope it’s alright with you,” says Luke while the kids talk about what they’re going to do.

Din shrugs. “Whatever makes Grogu happy. Also, I don’t mind the company.” He adds on a second thought and if Luke didn’t know any better he could swear Din was nervous. “By the way, are you seeing..” he starts to ask, then stutters and decides against it. “Nevermind, it’s silly.” He mutters under his breath.

“What?” asks Luke dumbly, parting his mouth in confusion, but Din just grabs his son, waves from up his shoulder and walks away, all of the above in under twenty seconds, leaving Luke wondering what the hell was that about.

[“He could have said better goodbyes,” comments haughtily Jayna, on the way home. “Grown-ups are weird.” She decides, scrunching her nose.

“I’m a grown-up, sweetie,” Luke reminds her distantly.

She stares at him like he’s being dense on purpose. “No, you’re our uncle and don’t count.”

“I like Grogu and his dad,” chirps in Jacen. “But we could have left together. Was something wrong, uncle Luke?”

Luke sighs. “I don’t know, kiddo. I really don’t know.”]

Rehearsal is a testimony on how much Luke cares about his job. If he loved being a teacher any less and was considering quitting, rehearsals would have made the decisive push. At least, his class is done for the day and he can go back at making plastic halos for the kids to wear; he doesn’t trust eight-years-olds with blunt plastic and scissors and it doesn’t involve glitter anyway. He’s pretty sure he’s going to scrape off the damn thing for a month.

“What kind of gay are you?” Shara scolds mockingly when he complains about it.

“The kind of gay who likes being clean, thank you very much”, he grumbles. “And they’re not even the good glitters, you know.” Luke frowns, carefully crafting the yellow plastic. “This stuff is cheap and gets everywhere.”

“I didn’t know there were good and bad glitters”, says suddenly a soft voice.

Luke turns his head so fast it’s a miracle he doesn’t get whiplash.

“Din, hi!”, he breathes. “I thought you had already gone home.”

Din shrugs. “Thought I’d stick around a little more. Grogu started on his homework, so it seemed convenient to just wait until he was done”, he says then notices Shara and rapidly greets her.

Luke blinks, since Shara didn’t have second grade last year. “Grogu and Poe have been on the same summer camp,” explains his colleague. “They got on really well.”

Din snorts. “The understatement of the century,” he says dryly, to which Shara laughs fondly.

Luke grins too: he has known Shara since his very first day as a teacher, she been teaching for just a year at the time, and of course he’s been at her and Kes’ place enough time to know very well little Poe and how much of a sunny and joyous kid he is.

Shara excuses herself and goes back to her class, but Luke can feel her glancing curiously at him, then at Din, who moves to sit down beside him, and he just knows that somehow now she knows. He resists the urge to sigh: he has already Leia and Han teasing him about his crush – and doesn’t that make him sound like his eight-year-olds?

“Anyway, care to explain what’s with glitter?” Din asks gently.

Luke shrugs. “Well, there’s good glitter like the one you use for make-up and then there’s this stuff.” He waves the tube in front of Din’s amused face. “It’s watery and somehow it goes everywhere but where I need it to be,” he grumbles pointing out at the half-made props he has on the table.

Din smirks a little. “I can see that,” he agrees ironically. “You have it all on your face, again.” He remarks.

Luke rolls his eyes. “Very funny. It appears I’m cursed,” he says, sighing dramatically.

Din chuckles. Then he leans in and sweeps the glitter off his face with his thumb. “There you go,” he murmurs gently.

Luke does not squeak, but it’s a very near thing. “Thank you.” He babbles.

Din’s face is so close that he can see the eyes behind the glasses crinkling with amusement. “You’re welcome, teacher.” He says, then leans back and Luke can breathe again.

Grogu saves him running towards them and announcing that he has done all his homework and he’s even drawn his favourite dinosaur, look Mr. Luke, just like that one you showed us in The Land Before Time! Luke nods dazedly and compliments the kid the best he can do.

Din ruffles his son’s hair and smiles like he’s basking in whatever the kid is chattering about and when they stand to go back home, he asks Luke if Saturday is still on and – Luke is so weak. This gorgeous man that looks so serious and distant under the black sunglasses and lives only for his son, somehow likes him enough to spend time with him, even if it’s just kids related.

Get a grip Skywalker, he tells himself firmly, but can still distinctively feel his skin warm where Din’s fingers brushed it.

Through the next few days, Shara keeps giving him funny looks. She thinks she’s being subtle but it’s clear that she’s plotting something. When he tells her so, Shara just shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replies angelically. “You’re imagining things.”

She pauses for a moment, mutters something about hating cotton wool – her class is making little Santa Claus cards and apparently it involves cotton wool for the beard – then with fake indifference asks: “How’s Din?”

Luke blinks. And blinks again. Can feel the point of his ears redden – thank God it’s a minor embarrassment case or he would never hear the end of it- and in a very steady, calm voice, he articulates: “What the hell?”

Shara drops immediately the disinterested façade and has the nerve to wink at him. “C’mon, I saw you yesterday. You seemed close, I’m just saying.”

Great, now his whole face is burning. “Well, you’re wrong. We’ve met a couple of times and that’s it. We’re just acquaintances.”

Shara snorts. “I know what you would like to be acquainted with.”

“Shara!” he hisses. “The kids!”

She waves him off. “Try and deny it, you can’t lie to save your life.” She points out.

Luke pouts. “You’re so mean,” he whines.

He should have never introduced her to Leia. “Have you met with my sister recently?”

“No, but I shall discuss your dumb-ass with her!” she answers cheerfully. “Now, tell me how much you would like to be acquainted with Din Djarin’s pretty ass.”

He doesn’t even call her out on the “not around the kids” language.

“Very much.” He admits. “Can you blame me, though?”

She pats him on the shoulder. “I get it. And those arms!” she sighs dreamily.

Luke snorts and nudges her in the sides. “Shara, you’re married!” He fake gasps.

“And still got eyes.” She shoots back playfully. “Now, talk.”

Luke lets out a sigh. “There’s not much to say. We’ve met at school a couple of times, accidentally met again with the kids, kids made friends and we’ll see each other Saturday for the same reason.” He lists flatly. “That’s pretty it. I don’t know if he even considers me a friend. Hell, I don’t even have his number.”

“Huh.” Shara’s expression is unreadable and that, on second thought, should have alerted him more. “You don’t?”

On Friday evening, his phone beeps with a message from an unknown number.

Luke frowns in confusion. “Who the hell,” he starts to mutter but the words die on his tongue.

 _Hey, it’s Din,_ the message reads. _I’m sorry to bother you, it’s about tomorrow_

While he’s reading, another text appears below.

_i’ve got the number from Shara, said you would be okay with it. I promise I’m not a stalker_

Of course, he’s got it from Shara. Luke is so oblivious.

 _What did you do??????????_ He texts her, to which she replies just with a string of emojis sticking their tongues out.

Plopping down on his couch, Luke quickly texts back _hi din! it’s fine, didn’t think you were one! what’s the problem?_

 _its just that it’s going to rain the whole weekend_ Din writes _best avoid the park_

“Damn!”, Luke mutters. Even the heavens are against him now.

 _shit you’re right best not_ then adds _the kids will be upset_

_yeah.. grogu is already sulking in his room_

_oh poor boy_ , he taps and thinks sadly, me too, kid, me too. _we’ll have just to make it next week_

Then a thought strikes him. They can’t go outside, but that doesn’t mean…

 _unless,_ Luke texts rapidly, _you up for something indoors_

He hits send and hopes Din wouldn’t just turn him down.

He doesn’t have to wait long.

_tell me more_

“So, what do you think guys? Makes up for the park?” Luke asks cheerfully.

Three tiny mouths hang open, watching enraptured the enormous monitor in the atrio of the planetarium. The screen is displaying the launch of the Apollo 11 and the children gasp when the rocket is effectively launched.

“This place is amazing!” breathes Jayna without interrupting eye-contact with the screen. Grogu nods speechless and rendering that child lost for words counts as an achievement in itself.

“Is it going to be like this in the big room, uncle Luke?” Jacen wants to know.

That seems to interest the other two enough to stop staring at the television.

“It’s going to be better and do you wanna know why?” The kids almost jump to say yes. “Because we’re going to watch how the whole universe was made,” he tells them conspiratorially and he is repaid by three excited shrieks.

Din smiles amused. “You’ll have to be quieter than that inside, you know.”

“Exactly,” Luke agrees. “You’ll have to be on your best behaviour guys or else the people inside will not be very happy with us.” He remarks in his best teacher voice.

“I promise I’ll zip my mouth!” promises Grogu fervently.

“That would be a first, mijo.” Din jokes, while the kid sticks his tongue out at him.

Luke pats his head affectionately. “It’s okay Grogu, you can speak but you’ll have to be super quiet. Now,” he says, standing up from being crouched beside the kids. “Why don’t we go and see the exhibit over there? We have a little bit of time to spare before our show begins.”

What is over there is a miniature of the solar system, clearly intended for kids, with an interactive set-up that would work if only…

“… the operator was here,” sighs Luke. “Why are they never where they’re supposed to be?” he mutters.

“I could go and search for someone,” Din proposes but Luke shakes his head. “Nah, don’t worry. Luckily, we have a teacher around”, he jokes lightly.

“So, kids, who wants to hear about the solar system?”

Luke found himself sitting on the floor with a lapful of twins and Grogu comfortably curled on his side. After a moment of hesitation, Din joins them on the pavement and Luke can feel him listening attentively at every word he’s saying, even though his expression is unreadable under the glasses.

At this point, Luke should really be asking what’s up with the glasses anyway.

Din keeps looking and a soft smile curls his lips. Luke feels giddy, but thankfully a tug on his sleeve manages to keep him on track.

“How can we see the planets from here?” inquires Jayna, scrunching her nose. “Do aliens send us pictures, uncle Luke?”

Luke chuckles. “Well, they would help if they did, darling”, he tells her, then gestures at an image on the wall.

“Astronomers use telescopes and other instruments to observe and study the stars.”

Jacen turns to look up at him, still snuggled against his chest. “Like you and grandpa do sometimes?”

Luke nods. “Yes, but I suppose they see better things than us, because they have much bigger equipment,” he snorts. “They’re professionals and they have studied a lot to know this stuff.”

“I would like to be an astronaut,” sighs dreamily Grogu. “I will be the first to see all the stars in space!” he decides, followed by an enthusiastic chorus of “me too!” of the twins.

Luke exchanges an amused look with Din, only to find him staring at him with the same soft smile. “And who are we to stop them?” the man replies with something in his voice that, if Luke didn’t know any better, would resemble wonder.

It’s with reluctance that Luke cuts off the explanation when they realize that the show is about to start. Once inside, with the stars surrounding them and the guide voice booming from the speakers, the kids rapidly wander around and Luke falls back with Din.

“I’m pretty sure Grogu wanted to be an archaeologist last week, hope you don’t mind the change of plans,” he jokes.

“As long as he’s happy, I’m fine with everything,” he shrugs. “You know a lot about stars.” He states simply.

“My dad and my uncle have always had astronomy as a hobby and I liked stargazing with them.” He shakes his head. “I’m pretty sure I had my astronaut phase too at some point.”

“I can see you in a big helmet and gear,” says Din teasingly and Luke laughs. “Yeah, I’d probably look ridiculous.”

Green and blue light dance on one side of Din’s face; he looks ethereal and Luke can’t help but sway closer to him.

“Up in the stars?” Din muses and absentmindedly tucks a strand of Luke’s hair behind his ear. “I think you’d be fantastic,” he breathes out like he can’t help himself.

Luke swallows and feels his heart pound madly in his chest.

“You think so?” he forces himself to pronounce.

Din’s hand slips from the side of his head and rests warmly on his neck. In the semi-darkness, Luke can feel more than he can see Din leaning down. “

I know so,” he says and Luke tilts his head up.

The lights turn on and with them the noise of the people inside the dom.

They both jerk away at the same time, but Din is the first to retreat.

“I should go looking for Grogu,” he mutters and Luke nods helplessly.

The kids, blissfully ignorant, chatter happily all the way back home.

Rain falls heavily on the van and between that and the children, Luke can’t even hear his thoughts and is almost glad about it. Was he going for a kiss? Did he mean it? Was it just the atmosphere and all that shit?

He steals a glance at Din, who hasn’t said a word since they exited the planetarium.

He looks calm and composed and unreachable and maybe Luke is really imaging things. He doesn’t know what to think at all.

His phone beeps with an incoming call from Han.

“So, how did it go?” he asks before he has the time to say hello.

“Great,” he answers because it’s the easiest thing to say.

He looks behind them, noticing that the kids all went very quiet, and finds them asleep.

“The kids are out cold, so I guess that was a victory.”

Han laughs. “Leia will be glad to know,” he says. “Are you still with..”

“Yes,” replies Luke quickly.

Din doesn’t seem to be interested in whatever he’s saying on the phone, focused as he is on driving, but you may never know when your friends are going to embarrass you. And he can sense Han smirking from the end of the line.

“You still with the rookies?” he asks, changing the subject.

His best friend huffs in what he knows it’s fake annoyance. “Yep, no rest for the wicked and neither for me apparently,” he groans. “I have mud even in my pants, I hate racing when it rains.”

“You could have it called it off,” he points out.

Han snorts. “And leave those gremlins without supervision for a day? That’s asking for trouble.” He says.

In the background, Luke can hear the noise of engines starting up and people shouting words of whom he can’t make out the meaning. Han shouts back something, then turns his attention back to him. “Well kid, I’ll leave you to your date and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Luke huffs exasperated. “Why do I even put up with you?”

“Behave junior, I’ll see you tonight!” he quips back and shuts the call off, leaving Luke shaking his head fondly.

“Who was that?” asks Din after a moment.

“Just Han,” says Luke absentmindedly and then realizes that they’re almost at his place.

Luke swallows.

He should be saying something, shouldn’t he? But what? Hey, were you going to kiss me before or am I going crazy? By the way, can we try again?

Din stops the car in front of the flat.

“Thanks for the ride,” is all that Luke ends up saying.

The kids wake up from their nap and groggily say their goodbyes.

Luke lingers just a moment. “See you next week?” he offers tentatively.

Din smiles almost tiredly. “Of course,” he replies.

[Three sets of eyes (plus Anakin’s but he’s a baby and won’t judge him) are staring Luke in disbelief.

“Luke, of course he was going for a kiss.” Shara says slowly, after he’s done telling them everything.

“It was either that or a headbutt and I’m pretty sure he likes your face,” rebuts Han.

“You haven’t even met him,” Luke protests. “I don’t think he likes me that way.”

Three groans follow the statement.

“Are you for real?” Shara looks at Leia like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

Leia looks back with equal exasperation. He really is dense, isn’t he? is what they’re communicating and it’s all very unfair, he doesn’t deserve the two of them ganging up on him.

“Luke, I’ll call a Skywalker intervention,” threatens his sister. “Maybe if enough people tell you, you’ll stop being dumb on purpose.”

Both Luke and Han shudder.

“Let’s leave the Skywalker intervention as the last resource, honey.” his best friend proposes, while Shara asks curiously “What is a Skywalker intervention?”

“Believe me, nothing very pleasant.” Luke mutters darkly.

His whole family involved is just what he needs, really.

“And anyway, I really don’t know guys,” he continues. “Don’t give me those faces, I’m serious.” Luke runs a hand through his hair. “He hasn’t said anything.”

“Maybe he panicked” suggests Shara. “I mean, he hasn’t ever struck me as the talkative type.”

“Has he texted you?” inquires Leia to which Luke shakes his head.

“He said that he made it at home safely and then radio silence.” He sighs. “What should I do?”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” interjects Han. “Ask him out.”

Luke doesn’t shriek but it’s a very near thing. “Are you insane?”

“Why not?” counters Leia, raising an eyebrow. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“He could hear me?” Luke replies weakly.

His sister gives him a look that means are-you-a-grownup-or-what. “And maybe that could put you and everybody else out of misery,” she retorts dryly.

Shara pats him on the shoulder. “I’ve known Din for a couple of years and, outside of his inner circle of friends, I’ve never seen him so at ease with someone.” She points out gently. “He almost kissed you. That should mean something.”

Luke sighs and raises his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay. I’ll give it a try.”]

He does not give it a try.

He meant to, honestly. Despite what Leia and Shara think, he’s not completely useless. He thought about it for the rest of the weekend. He could ask him for a drink, Luke thought, and if it turned out that Din wasn’t into him after all, he could pass it as two friends hanging out for a night. Probably that would break his heart a little, but Skywalkers are nothing but resilient. He would be okay in the end.

The fact is that he doesn’t like the idea of asking Din out via text. It sounds cold and impersonal and Din deserves better than that.

“It’s not like you’re proposing,” points out Leia, when he tells her. “Texting would be faster.”

Luke hums. “I know, but I want to see his reaction. Also, what if he just doesn’t reply? Or doesn’t see the message right away? Or..”

Leia stops him. “I got it, can’t argue with that.”

See? He has even convinced his twin of the logic behind his actions, so that would be it.

Monday comes and goes and Luke doesn’t see Din at school, but they keep texting and Luke discovers that, while emoji are foreign to the man, he speaks memes very well. It’s so endearing since it reflects Din’s dry humour very well and the fact that he still bothers to text him while he’s probably busy working makes Luke’s heart swell with fondness.

In class, Grogu chatters brightly about the day at the planetarium and Luke promises that he will try to make it a school trip after Christmas and if one of the paper Santa Claus they’re drawing ends up driving a rocket instead of the traditional sleigh is… well, Luke is going to give the kid extra points for creativity.

It’s just two weeks before Christmas and the whole school is buzzing in activity. Luke doesn’t remember the last time he sat on his chair for more than five minutes and he doesn’t get a chance to speak properly with Din when he comes to pick up Grogu.

[Actually, they manage to catch up via call. Luke was busy jostling between cooking himself some kind of dinner and reading Din’s texts about his day at work – apparently, one of his co-workers that Luke recognises as the infamous uncle Boba of Grogu’s enthusiastic tales almost punched a client in the face, which maybe was deserved but not very good for business, Din had stated with a string of facepalming gifs to corroborate his account – and Luke suggested calling because multitasking was more is sister’s area of expertise.

For a moment, he thinks that talking through the phone would feel weird, but Din’s soft voice quickly changes his mind.

“I thought that a teacher should be able to multitask as well,” he teases lightly.

Luke snorts. “Not if the teacher is only half a decent cook. I don’t want to risk burning the house. Not again.”

“Again?” repeats Din and when Luke's only answer is a well drawn “uhm”, he laughs loudly. “You’re impossible, how are you even in charge of children?” he says, but his tone is fond at most and Luke can picture him shaking his head.

“There’s no cooking involved with third-graders'', Luke rebuts cheekily and Din snorts. “Anyway, why did your colleague punch that guy in the face?”]

In the end, they keep talking until Din flees to put Grogu in bed – after the kid wishes sweet dreams to his teacher as well – and Luke resolves to wait for the next time they see each other in person to ask.

Leia kindly informs him that texting would have been faster; Luke retorts that she doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body and he reminds her that, at first, she didn’t get that Han was trying to propose: she thought he was tying his shoes.

Leia sputters indignantly, Luke smirks in victory and Han grumbles something along the lines “I have already three kids” and “Skywalker nonsense” and “Padmé was right”.

After they’re both done sulking, Han asks him if he still wants a ride to the theatre the next day.

“Maybe you could ask hot dad”, he suggests, while he’s busy wrestling the twins into their seats. “You’d kill two birds with one stone that way.”

Luke hums pensively. “Maybe you can drop me there, then I can ask him to drive me home”, he grins with satisfaction.

Han gives him a thumbs up while Leia nods in agreement, then they all fall silent when Jayna, with the innocence of a five-year-old, candidly asks: “What is a hot dad?”

“Why,” says Luke, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why are you still here?”

“Because I want to see hot dad!” Han readily answers like he’s pointing out the obvious.

And in a very loud tone of voice.

“Fuck’s sake Han, please do not call him like that,” Luke hisses.

Luckily enough, Din is nowhere in sight, but still. “I don’t think that everybody would fall for dad when he’s got a fever.”

Han glares at him. “Did you have a better idea?” he asks affronted. “Anyway, despite being underappreciated as always, I’ve got to see my future brother-in-law.”

Luke blushes and Han looks very smug about it.

“I hate you,” Luke tells him tiredly.

“No, you don’t,” Han counters cheerfully, putting an arm around his neck.

Luke leans in his side. “No, I don’t,” he agrees. “But we’re not even dating.”

“Not yet,” corrects him Han and Luke would like to feel as confident about his chances as his best friend is.

“Now, if I’m not very wrong,” he adds, squinting his eyes. “That should be him, I suppose?”

Luke’s heart leaps in his chest. He sees Grogu and a couple of other kids running to the front, Din behind them, wrapped in a dark coat.

“I see you point, kiddo,” mutters Han under his breath.

The nickname existed for a reason, after all.

Luke ushers the rest of the class inside and then finds Din and Han staring at each other, the latter grinning friendly and shaking the other’s hand, while Din looks almost… wary.

Luke frowns. “Hello Din,” he says. “This is..” he starts, but Han waves him off.

“Introductions all done, kid” he says, then puts his helmet on. “I’ll better get going, you do your thing” he adds and has the nerve to wink at him. “Nice to meet you Din.”

Din nods, but Luke notices the way his jaw is locked and his lips are drawn in a tight line and, trying to keep the tone light, asks if Han has already gotten on his nerves. “Not that would be a first, mind you,” he continues while they go inside. “I swear, everybody wants to punch him as soon as they meet him, but in the end he’s a nice guy.”

Din hums non committedly. “You two seem close.”

Luke blinks. “Of course we are,” he says slowly. “He’s my....” he starts saying but gets cut off by one of the kids asking for help and he goes immediately into full teacher mode.

He smiles apologetically at Din before being swept away by his students. He glances back just in time to see the man taking a seat in the back as he always does, his posture just slightly more crouched than the usual.

Luke doesn’t have the time to dwell on that detail though: music starts and children rapidly scatter everywhere to get into the backstage. He can always ask later.

The ride back home is, for reasons that Luke cannot exactly pinpoint, tense. Even tenser than the one from the planetarium, although in that case it was mostly Luke freaking out internally. But then, anyway, Din had looked okay, even quiet as he was. Now, something is wrong and Luke can’t understand what.

Grogu is snoring peacefully in the backseat when they arrive at Luke’s place. The lights are spilling out his window, so probably Han and Leia are already there with the kids waiting to hear everything about his big move. He’ll be very sorry to disappoint.

Din doesn’t switch off the engine, clearly just waiting for him to go away, but –

“Is everything alright?” Luke can’t help but ask.

Din nods curtly. “Yeah, just miscalculated something,” he adds flatly.

“Can I help?” he offers but Din just shakes his head, stubbornly refusing to look at him.

Luke’s phone buzzes with several texts from both his sister and brother-in-law asking how things are going because they can see Din’s van from the window; he would be annoyed if he wasn’t so confused right now.

He exits the car, but before Din drives away, Luke blurts out. “I wanted to ask you... something tonight. But I see that something else is going on, so maybe we can talk tomorrow?” he says tentatively.

Din murmurs a “yeah” of assent, quiet enough that Luke almost misses it.

They don’t talk tomorrow.

Or the day after that.

And for the rest of the week.

Din doesn’t answer at any of Luke’s texts and doesn’t show up at school for the entire week.

He’s not even at Friday’s scheduled rehearsal and his friend Cara drives the kids instead. She claims that Din talked to Shara about something that came up last minute at work. Luke somehow musters the courage to ask her directly if everything is fine with Din, but she just shrugs him off.

“He can get like that sometimes,” she tells him. “He’ll come around eventually.”

So Luke is not worried, because he has no reasons to doubt what Cara said, and Grogu looks happy as usual, hence whatever is going on with him, it’s not enough of a problem to affect his home.

But still, Din keeps not texting him back and rejection stings.

Luke at some point stops trying.

He tries his best not to show the disappointment, but there’s a reason if everybody says that Luke wears his heart on his sleeve.

At school, Shara gently takes all the glitters from his hands and informs him that she will make the cards herself – even if she hates it, Luke knows. Then, she offers to go kick Din’s butt and smack him upside the head so maybe that will knock some sense into him. Luke smiles and shakes his head, but makes sure to hug Shara extra hard when they say goodbye.

He goes to Leia's and thankfully she knows him well enough that she doesn’t need to ask what’s wrong. She feeds him ice-cream - because even in December, ice-cream is always on – and pets his hair affectionately. She’s even willing to put on Moulin Rouge, because it seems like the situation calls for desperate measures and Ewan McGregor looking superbly dashing in his bohemian attire is always a welcome distraction. Even though it ends in tragedy and misery, Luke is already feeling miserable so that can’t hurt too much.

“Don’t you think he looks a bit like uncle Ben?” his sister insists, squinting her eyes. “But with dad’s flare for dramatics”, she adds, around a spoonful of chocolate ice-cream.

That pulls a chuckle out of Luke. On screen, Christian proceeds to declare his undying love to Satine.

“He does have a nice voice,” Leia mutters and Luke puts his head on her shoulder.

His sister is tinier than him but, wrapped in her embrace, Luke’s always felt completely safe.

A week before the Christmas’ play, unexpectedly, Din shows up at school.

Luke busies himself with bubbles and streamers (as it was predictable, the kids only decorated the front of the Christmas tree), but of course Grogu would want to say goodbye and even if Luke is a little mad at Din for ignoring him, he can’t dismiss his student just because he’s feeling petty.

When he turns around, Din is standing quietly at the door without his signature sunglasses. That makes Luke stop in his tracks: he genuinely can’t remember to have ever seen the man without them.

Get a grip Skywalker, he tells himself, squaring up his shoulder. You’re mad, you’re hurt and not even puppy eyes will work magic.

Luke ruffles Grogu’s hair fondly before he puts his little hat on and promptly avoids looking Din in the face.

Of course, being smart as he is, Grogu picks up that something is not right and in a little voice asks: “Mr. Luke, are you and daddy not friends anymore?”

Luke notices the kids nervously shuffling on his feet and he’s already opening his mouth to reassure him, when Din beats him to the punch.

“Dad has been a lot stupid lately, mijo,” he says softly. “And if Mr. Luke is upset with me, he has every right to be.”

Grogu seems to think about it for a moment, “You should say sorry, daddy,” he whispers confidently. “Kevin was upset because I spilled juice on his notebook even if I didn’t mean to! But I said I was sorry and then we made peace.”

Din smiles and that shouldn’t make Luke’s heart flutter at all.

“Why don’t you wait downstairs with auntie Cara so I can talk a moment to Luke?” Grogu nods enthusiastically and even calls a “good luck daddy!” over his shoulder before he bolts outside the door.

Luke cannot say if he’s more embarrassed or amused by the whole situation.

“Din, look…” he starts saying, but Din raises his eyes – and damn it, he really has baby deer kind of eyes – and the words die in his mouth.

“I’m sorry Luke,” he tells him, words rushed like he cannot say them fast enough. “I’ve been an inconsiderate asshole and there’s no excuse for how I behaved and I’m really, really sorry.”

Luke crosses his arms on his chest, like he wants to protect himself. He nods at Din’s apology, but he has to know…

“Did I do something wrong?” he asks and he hates how small his voice sounds, “Because everything was fine and then it wasn’t and you didn’t show up at school and…” Luke realizes he’s babbling by now but every stupid feeling he has felt these days is coming up and he cannot stuff it back inside.

Din shakes his head vigorously. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong, it was me being an idiot and a moron and I shouldn’t have…”

“Avoided me like the plague?” concludes Luke for him, because after all, he still feels petty.

Din looks away, ashamed, and Luke feels his resolve crumbles just a little.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have.” He admits. “And I can’t apologize enough, really, but it has nothing to do with you. In fact, you are.. you are pretty perfect” he finally utters in the same pained, deep voice he used when he talked about finding Grogu on his doorsteps.

Luke’s breath catches in his throat. He’s also sure he’s blushing but, honestly, he’s past the point of care.

“Anyway,” he coughs, “as I said, I misread a situation and took it out on you and that wasn’t fair at all. I understand if you’re mad and want me to just fuck off…”

Luke, on impulse, steps closer and grips Din’s forearms. That seems to make him go quiet.

“I was a little mad,” he admits. “Because I didn’t know what happened and because you shut me out.” Din goes tense under his palms, but Luke goes on. “Mostly, I missed talking to you.” He states simply.

Din’s tension ease considerably and he sighs. “I missed you too,” he says back. “And I know that I’m not even giving you enough of an explanation, but..”

“But you don’t want to talk about it, yet, I get it”, replies Luke. “Just promise me not to do that again, please? Or if you need space, just tell me. I promise, I can keep quiet when I want to,” he jokes lightly.

Din huffs at that, amused, and nods. “So, are we okay?” he asks, still uncertain.

Luke smiles sunnily. “Yeah, I think so. Peace made.”

Din actually laughs and that really makes his stomach flutter. “Grogu would be proud. Can’t believe that the kid made it so simple,” he says, shaking his head.

Luke feels his heart swells with how much he’s smitten for this man.

They’re still very close and now, if he wanted, Luke could just lean in and kiss him. But right at this moment, it doesn’t feel right, so he doesn’t.

Din stares at him for a moment, with a quiet wonder in his eyes.

Luke can feel something shift between them, like pieces of a puzzle finally slotting into place.

“Have you any plans for tomorrow?” Din asks suddenly.

Luke frowns. “No, I mean, the kids are staying at my parents’, but if you and Grogu want, we can get them and go somewhere else,” he says, but Din shakes his head.

“I meant just you, Luke,” he clarifies, scratching nervously at the back of his head. “I thought that maybe we could meet up and I don’t know, go shopping for the kids, maybe grab a coffee… if you want.”

Luke grins brightly. Leia will never let him hear the end of it and he couldn’t care less.

“I’m in.”

[“I can’t believe that in the end it was Din that had to ask you out,” Han says that night disbelievingly.

Luke shrugs. “Well, when I tried, he shut me out for more than a week, so I think that now we’re even.” With practiced ease, he catches the most of Anakin’s munched apple before it goes flying everywhere, while Jacen and Jayna run around the table. “To be honest, I didn’t even expect it.”

Han huffs and grasps the twins around their middle. The two kids, finding themselves a lot higher than usual, stay absolutely still for a moment. Then, they proceed to squirm and twist in their father’s arms.

“I’ll put you down if you sit and behave, otherwise I’m calling mommy,” he states firmly, before depositing the twins in their chairs.

“Why am I always the bad guy in this house?” calls Leia from the kitchen.

“Because you’re scarier and only fools would dare to risk your wrath, honey,” Han quips back.

The twins giggle and make show of sitting straight in their place.

Luke laughs too. “That’s right, mongrels. You don’t want to be in your mother’s blacklist.”

“But seriously,” Leia says a lot later, after the twins tired themselves enough and are peacefully asleep in their beds.

“What’s with him? One day he acts like you don’t exist and the next he’s wooing you?” She has her arms crossed on her chest and looks very much like the iron lawyer she is in the courtroom.

“I know, but he seemed sincere. He apologized and well, I do like him. A lot.” He adds in a lower voice.

Leia just sighs. “I only don’t want to see you hurt again”, she says in a softer tone. “He seemed like a decent person, until…”

“He behaved like a douchebag,” supplies Han, reaching them on the couch. “But I think that junior here should see where this is going.”

Leia raises an eyebrow. “Since when are you the wise one?” She eyes him unimpressed. “Just the other day you threatened bodily harm if said douchebag came close to Luke again.”

Luke snorts, because for all he pretends of not caring about anyone, Han is always ready to jump into the role of knight in shining armour.

Just for him, Leia, the kids and maybe Padmé, but the point still stands.

Han waves his wife off. “I’m not saying that he should go for his pants just like that,” he says, agitating a finger, “I’m saying that Luke should go out with him and maybe talk to him more, sort stuff out. He didn’t tell you much after all, did he?”

Luke nods. “He said that it wasn’t about me, but he was still pretty vague.”

“See? I think that you should clear the situation, then you can decide if hot dad is worth becoming hot boyfriend”, concludes Han triumphantly.

“That’s actually a good idea”, Leia muses with just a hint of wonder in her voice, then she grins wickedly. “I suppose that you’re getting wise in your old age, my love.”

Han sputters indignantly and growls “I’ll give you old, princess” and the two of them start running around the house very much like their offspring.

Luke gives a look to little Anakin who’s chewing intently on his pacifier. “Remember what I said,” he says slowly, while Leia shrieks and Han laughs after, apparently, having sprayed his wife with water “me and grandma need another sane member in this house. You’re our only hope.”]

Shopping for the kids is more time consuming than it seems. Christmas is around the corner and stores are filled with parents and relatives trying to fulfil their kids’ wishes. Luke is grateful that he has just to buy _some_ presents and not the whole list. The streets seem ready to overflow with all the people out enjoying the weekend and even if the air is chilly and the sun is covered in wispy clouds, it’s almost impossible to feel cold with the heat of other people surrounding them. But despite the chaos following at every window shop they stop by, Luke is enjoying himself.

Din talks easily and every so often will watch him with a gentle smile on his face and the crowd is enough of an excuse to curl his hand in the crook of his arm to avoid being separated.

“I was wondering,” he muses, while Din is checking the price for two spaceship models, “will you wear Santa’s beard and costume at Christmas?” he asks innocently.

Din gives him a pointed look. “Ay que funny,” he replies flatly, while Luke laughs.

“Red would suit you well,” Luke tells him earnestly, even if at this point Din could wear the most hideous shade and he would find him stunning anyway.

Din hums non-committedly. “Maybe,” he concedes, “but the beard surely would not. Also, that’s Boba’s schtick.”

“The one that punched the client in the face?”

“The very one.” Luke’s face must express his disbelief, but Din just shrugs as if to say _what can you do_. “I’ll take this one for Grogu and you’ll take these two for the twins?”

The great part of the morning pass that way, wandering through the toy store aisles and picking up gifts. Din admits that he can’t help but spoil his son at Christmas – which Luke had already guessed – but that tape and wrapping paper are to him what cheap glitter is to Luke, a complete nightmare.

Luke pats him on the arm. “Been there, done that, but you still can get help from the sale girls, while that is technically my job.”

Din snorts. “Impossible,” he mutters but his eyes crinkle fondly.

After having bought what Luke supposes is worth a fortune in toys and a loud grumble from both their stomachs later, Din suggests to go eating. “There’s this pub not far from there, I went once with Cara and her wife”, he says, leading Luke towards a luckily less crowded street. “And to be honest, it’s the only place I know, because since Grogu discovered McDonald’s it’s hard going somewhere else.”

The pub is actually nice, even if a bit little, and they end up squeezed in a booth near one of the windows.

Luke likes it and likes even more Din’s relieved smile when he tells him so.

While waiting for their orders to be ready, Luke asks him about Christmas. “You’re going to spend it with Cara and the punching guy, I presume.”

Din snorts. “I’m sure Boba would appreciate the nickname. And yes, it’s me, Cara, her wife Fennec, Boba and Greef, my boss.”

Luke smiles jokingly. “Look at you, friends with the boss.”

Din tuts. “We’ve known each other for years and he loves playing the loving uncle for Grogu. It’s a miracle that my son isn’t a spoiled brat at this point.”

“He could never, he’s one of the most kind and golden-hearted kid I’ve ever seen,” Luke says genuinely. “I’m going to miss being his teacher next year.”

Din sighs. “Tell me about it. I know he will be inconsolable, he adores you.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll only need to stick around”, Luke replies.

The waitress interrupts them, bringing their orders, but he still manages to catch Din’s hopeful smile.

Luke is happy, don’t get him wrong. He’s having the best day he could imagine and everything he has been dreaming for the last month. But, while chewing on his hamburger and chips – “If I had known what you were going to order I would have brought you at McDonald’s”, “Ah well, but handmade tastes better” – Leia’s suspicious stare fill his mind; he doesn’t want to ruin the mood, but he needs to know what happened for Din to avoid him so fiercely. Right now, he can tell that the man is just as happy to be with him as Luke is, but still it would be nice to sort things out once and for all.

If he has a chance with Din, Luke thinks, he wants it with clear start.

Before he can find a way to broach the subject, Din asks, “What are you doing for Christmas then?”

Luke blinks. “Oh, just the usual,” he replies. “Big dinner with the whole family.”

Din hums and stay silent for a moment. Luke watches him, confused by the awkward silence, and he’s about to say something when Din beats him to it again.

“So, I guess you’ll bring the boyfriend,” he says, trying for a casual tone and missing it by a mile.

Luke blinks again. “What boyfriend?” he asks perplexed.

It’s Din’s turn to look confused. “Han, right?”

Luke gapes. He knows that nobody looks good with their mouth stupidly hanging open, but – what the actual fuck. Din’s incredulous stare informs him that he said the last part out loud.

“But – but you were saying it,” Din stutters, looking like the world has just turned upside down. “You were all on each other outside the theatre – and he drove you and then I asked and you said he was..”

“My brother-in-law,” finishes Luke for him and has the pleasure to see Din’s face going to from confusion, to surprise to embarrassment in the span of seconds. “He’s been my best friend since I was a teenager and he’s married to my sister Leia. He’s the twins’ dad”, he adds then, just to be clear.

Oh boy, Han and Leia are going to be insufferable, he thinks a little madly.

Din clears his voice. “So – so, you’re not..”

Luke shakes his head vigorously. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Uhm” is all Din’s has to say.

Luke echoes the sentiment.

Thankfully, the waitress comes to their rescue, bringing the bill. They split and while Luke hands the money, his mind works faster than ever. Din was convinced that Luke and Han were a couple and, while Luke finds the idea absurd, he can’t really blame Din for that. He honestly can’t remember if he mentioned he was the twins’ dad; and without that piece of information, Han’s constant presence in his chattering could lead to that assumption. But, Luke grumbles a bit, Din could have asked, the day at the theatre, before all got weird between them and…

“Oh,” Luke breathes out softly, realization dawning on his face.

That’s what happened, the miscalculation Din mentioned.

Din seems to understand what he’s thinking about, because he averts his eyes. “I’m twice the idiot I thought that I was”, he mutters unhappily, slipping on his sunglasses.

They go outside. The crowd has dispersed since the morning and only the few people queuing outside the restaurants remain. Din walks with his head hung low, still a bit red on his cheekbones. Luke finds is terribly endearing – calm, collected and apparently mysterious Din blushing furiously because of him – but at the same time he wants to make it better.

He can make it better, if Din lets him.

They’re very close to the park where they met with kids. Din is almost walking past it, but Luke tugs on the sleeve of his coat, gesturing to go in. If the man is surprised, he doesn’t show it.

The lanes are pretty much as empty as the streets were and the quiet is interrupted only for the occasional leaves crunching under their feet.

“You avoided me because you thought Han was my boyfriend”, Luke says.

He should feel nervous, but instead he feels calm like he never did before.

Din sighs. “Yeah,” he agrees gruffly. “I know it’s stupid, but I – I couldn’t help myself. I just – I just needed to keep my distance for a while.”

They halt to a stop in front of the little pond where the kids like to play, the water reflecting the grey sky above. Luke waits in silence for him to continue.

“I like you,” Din says abruptly. “Quite a lot,” he adds, in a softer tone that makes Luke’s heart lurch pleasantly inside his chest. “And at some point, I thought I might’ve had a chance with you”, he mutters sheepishly.

Luke grins and, on impulse, reach for Din’s hand and lace their fingers together. This makes the man look up, the hint of a sudden smile ghosting his lips.

“So you avoided be because you were jealous?” he taunts cheekily, earning a groan in response. Luke laughs out loud, but he grips tighter Din’s hand in his own.

“Not one of my proudest moment,” Din admits. “I told myself that it wasn’t my business who you decided to date, but at the same time it was difficult because you..” he licks his lips and Luke can’t help but follow the movements of his mouth. “You’re so bright, it’s like staring constantly at the sun”, he concludes in a breath. “And even when I tried to keep away, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” Din quiets and for a moment they can only hear the wind rustling through the trees.

Din averts his eyes, but Luke gently cups his cheek with his free hand. He feels giddy.

We really are a couple of morons, he thinks with fondness.

Din covers Luke’s hand with his palm.

“What if,” Luke tells him softly. “I’d like that it was your business who I date or not?”

Din raises his eyebrows. “As in?” he asks, trying to sound serious but Luke notices the way the corner of his lips quirks up.

Luke leans closer. “As in,” he repeats, “I liked you all along and it’s a mystery that you didn’t notice how much smitten I am with you?”

If he wasn’t already so happy that his heart seems ready to bust, the way Din opens in a the most brilliant smile he has ever seen would’ve done the trick.

“Well, you didn’t say anything”, he deadpans, but joy seeps out of his voice, ruining the effect.

Luke gently removes his sunglasses and folds them in his pocket. Up close, Din’s eyes are the colour of hot cocoa and are just as warm. He pushes their foreheads together.

“Shut up,” he murmurs before kissing him.

They both shut up for a while.

[Much later, after they’re forced to separate to catch their breaths, lips and nose numb from the cold, Luke let an honest to God giggle before tucking his head under Din’s chin and Din gently carded his fingers through his hair;

after a loud rumble in the sky made them run to the car and Din’s held Luke’s hand all the way home;

after Luke softly said “Won’t you come inside?” and they’ve fallen into each other’s bodies like stars colliding in a precious corner of the universe;

after they’ve sprawled on Luke’s tiny couch, legs tangled together and Luke’s head pressed firmly on Din’s chest, where the steady rhythm of his heart lulled him to sleep;

much later, they talk.

“I’ve actually tried to kiss you before, you know”, Din murmurs.

Luke can hear Leia, Han and Shara triple I told you so like they’re in the room.

“At the planetarium?” he asks and feels more than see Din nodding above him.

“And I was trying to ask you out at the park when we met with the kids.”

Luke smiles. “So soon? My, my, my, Mr. Djarin, aren’t we impatient?”

Din snorts and pokes him in the side. “You’ve pretty much said that you liked me from the start, you don’t get to tease,” he says dryly which, fair point.

“I’m glad I didn’t, though,” he adds. “Would have saved us a lot of troubles but..”

“It wasn’t the right time”, concludes Luke.

He snuggles further into Din’s hold, into the softness of his sweater. Din caresses him absent-mindedly from the back of his head to the bumps of his spine and back up. Luke thinks at this rate he might fall asleep again, but he’s not complaining.

“Next time, talk to me?” he says instead.

“So sure there will be a next time?” Din replies amused. “Have a little faith in me, Skywalker.”

Luke tilts his chin up to look at him in the eyes. “Well,” he smirks. “Me and Han are still pretty close.”

Din groans, while Luke bursts out laughing.

He kisses him on the mouth as an apology, then he kisses again just because he can.

There’s very little talking after that.]

Christmas’s play goes spectacularly well, all things considered.

Besides a little crisis involving a missing set of halos, a microphone that decided to go sooner than later on vacation and a couple of lines missed on the stage, it all goes very smoothly.

Shara high-fives him in the backstage.

“The kids did a good job”, she says proudly, listening to her class singing at the top of their lungs miraculously on tune. For the most part, at least.

Luke agrees. “Indeed. But still, I can’t wait to just rest for a while.”

Shara’s grin turns immediately wicked. “With your brand-new, very attractive and attached at your hip boyfriend? I didn’t know they called it resting now.”

Luke groans and swats at her, but she expertly ducks and laughs at him.

He can’t decide who has been more insufferable between her and his sister. Han is still shocked that Din thought they were a couple to mock him. “If this story arrives to your father, he’s going to have my ass,” he muttered darkly. “Not only I married his princess of a daughter, but now people think I’m also dating his precious son.”

Luke patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure I can persuade Leia to not to make fun of us in front of him.”

They will be old news by the end of the month, he just has to endure it a little longer. The thought of the upcoming future puts a smile on his face. He can’t wait to join Din and Grogu outside.

Shara pretends to gag. “Ugh, young love, disgusting,” she complains, but friendly ruffle his hair.

He finds Din talking with Leia outside the theatre. The twins insisted that they wanted to see Grogu’s play and of course Han and Leia would jump at the occasion to finally meet Din.

“Hey everybody,” he greets, kneeling to hug the children. “Did you like the play?”

“It was very beautiful,” says Jayna politely. “Grogu told me that we can go play at his house after Christmas and that you’ll bring us with you”, she states with a look that seems to say _don’t even try to deny it_. Sometimes, Luke is scared by how much she takes from her mother.

Grogu, until that moment clinging on his father’s leg, trots towards them. “Dad said that now that you’re friends again you’ll visit a more lot,” he chirps happily. “And Santa’s going to bring a lot of toys because Dad said I’ve been a good boy this year and I want to share them with my friends.”

“Can we, uncle Luke?” asks Jacen hopefully.

Luke looks up to his boyfriend who’s watching with a soft smile on his face. “If Din’s alright with it,” he replies. Of course, the man agrees and the children start to cheer.

Luke raises to his feet and goes to Din. “Alright?”

Din presses his lips on his temple. “Alright.”

[Han joins them some minutes later, little Anakin finally asleep in his arms.

He strides toward Din, right hand extended. "I think we ought to start again, pal"

Din winces, but shakes his hand. "Yeah, sorry about that."

He waves him off. "You and Junior sorted things out, that's what matters."

Luke would find it sweet if Han didn't smirk right away.

Oh no.

"Don't believe anything he says!" Luke hurries to say at the same moment Han casually asks: "Did you know that Luke used to call you hot dad?"

Luke is on his way to bury himself and that sorry excuse of best friend he has, when both Leia and Din burst out laughing.

"You know, I think that me and Han will get along just fine", his boyfriend informs him.

Luke groans.]

**Author's Note:**

> if you made it until the end: THANK YOU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH ❤❤❤❤❤❤  
> i lowkey said fuck sequel rights when i used the kids from the EU but i'm not sorry at all oopsie  
> i have an half idea about a little spin-off featuring the whole skywalker family bc the thought of anakin being a protective dad and padmé adopting din right away is sending me ✈✈✈
> 
> come and shout about sw @dvrlingkenobi on twitter and @purrvaire on tumblr ✨


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